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Despite the snow covered trees, glittering lights, smoke from the chimneys and the overall sense of Holiday spirit that store fronts and houses display, for people living gluten-free there is usually a little bit of gluten-free gloom that hangs over the Holiday season. Don’t get me wrong, we are far from gluten-free grinches, but we cannot deny the nagging sense of anxiety that takes over when considering all of the ways that gluten can complicate even the simplest of Holiday celebrations. Your work may host a Holiday party, you may be staying with extended family members during the Holiday season, there may be a slew of dinner party invitations in your inboxes (or mailboxes if you are classic like that). Don’t let the Holidays overwhelm you! This Gluten-Free Holiday Survival Guide should help make the Holiday season gluten-free and stress-free.

1. Traveling

Regardless of your destination, taking the time to plan for traveling gluten-free can save you a lot of time and hassle when you are en route. Whether you are road tripping your way to Grandma’s house or flying to Cabo for a sunny Holiday getaway, these tips will help keep hunger pangs at bay.

Download Find Me Gluten Free

Find Me Gluten Free is an app for smart phones that takes your current GPS location and generates a list of gluten-free dining options ear your location. The list includes reviews (many written by me!), menus, phone numbers and directions to restaurants that offer gluten-free options.

I know some of you may be thinking, “I know my hometown through and through, trust me there is nothing gluten-free,” but a lot can change in a year! Gluten-free products and menu-options are on the rise. In 2012, Time magazine listed “gluten-free” as one of the Top 10 Food Trends of the year and the projected growth of the gluten-free product market (currently at $4.2 billion, is $6.6 billion by 2017 (statistics from Packaged Facts).

You can use this app to find places to eat while on the road. When you have to stop for gas and a snack you may not know the area well which is where Find Me Gluten Free can be a huge help.

Pack Snacks

Speaking of stopping for a snack…when flying or driving it is important to pack snacks, especially for long flights. About a month after being diagnosed with Celiac I hopped on a plane for a trip to Italy. Being new to the gluten-free lifestyle, I didn’t realize that the plane would have close to zero gluten-free options on board. Needless to say, by the time I landed in Rome, I was starving!

In my recent experiences traveling, there are usually gluten-free options on the flight menus but they are not always in stock or they are not very filling and/or not very nutritious. You don’t want to rely on a bag of potato chips to hold you over for 8+ hours while traveling.

▪ Pirate’s Booty — yummy and sold in small, individual servings (great for throwing into a bag or purse).

▪ Glutino Pretzels – if the plane has hummus you can use your own pretzels! You can also grab the chocolate covered or yogurt covered pretzels offered by Glutino.

Call Ahead

If you are flying this Holiday season make a call to the airline and ask about their gluten-free options. Sometimes websites are not up to date or the information is not true for all of the flights the airline offers. Calling and talking to the airline company about your options while in the air is the most reliable way to get information about gluten-free options. You can read about my nightmare airline experience here.

Get Everyone Onboard (pun intended)

If you are traveling with family or friends, make sure they are onboard about the gluten-free thing. It is easier to just bring it up at the start of the trip rather than wait until everyone is hungry and searching for a place to grab a bite. If your travel-mates know beforehand that stopping at Pizza Hut is not really an option for you, you won’t have to veto their glutinous choices! Be open and honest about what kind of pit stops will work for you.

2. Attending Dinner Parties

There are many strategies you can use when attending a dinner party and which one you choose has a lot to do with the context of the party. Is it hosted by a close friend? A new friend? A friend of a friend? A neighbor? My go-to approach for attending a dinner party is a 3 step process.

Call/email/text/Facebook message the host and ask what they are serving

Disclose that you are gluten-free and what thats means

Offer (by offer, I clearly mean insist politely) to bring a side-dish or a dessert.

Approach the chat with the dinner party host as conversational. Your goal isn’t to make the host change their menu or make everything gluten-free. The goal of the conversation is to figure out if there are any gluten-free dishes so you can plan accordingly.

When you bring a side dish, make sure it is something quasi-filling because it may be all you end up being able to eat. I suggest a quinoa dish (here is my favorite recipe). When it comes to dessert, I suggest baking mini-gluten-free cupcakes (my Tiramisu cupcake recipe is always a hit at parties, check it out!).

Lastly, I suggest eating a little bit of food before heading over to the party. Gluten-free pro-tip? Never go anywhere truly hungry!

3. In-Laws/Extended Family

Does the word “In-Law” run shivers down your spine? Sometimes the idea of being a burden to the in-laws during the Holidays, especially for a new couple, is quite unnerving. What if you ruin their family traditions? What if you are that girl, the one who refuses to eat anything made by the family? Take a breath. Being gluten-free, for people with Celiac or gluten-intolerance, is not fleeting. This will be your reality at Holidays for years to come so it is best not to beat around the bush. Don’t down play how important being gluten-free is to you, just be open and honest about it. In most cases, people will be accommodating even if it does take them a while to truly understand what it means to be gluten-free.

I have heard so many of my readers tell me that extended family members “just don’t get it” or are “unsupportive” or think that being gluten-free is a cry for attention or a fad diet. I don’t have any magic words of advice to fix that. It happens to all of us. You need to be patient and understanding even if the people you encounter are not. Remember, for most people the idea of being gluten-free is quite literally out-of-this-world-weird. So many cultural and religious traditions center around wheat (as an Italian and growing up in a Catholic household I can personally attest to this). It will take some time for people to accept the gluten-free lifestyle but if you are persistent, patient and willing to answer the questions people will inevitably have, they will come around.

4.Traditions

Here is where you may have to get a bit creative. Some family traditions may not be gluten-free friendly which means you will likely need to make some changes to your tradition or make a new tradition altogether. Check out my post about tweaking holiday traditions. If you or your family aren’t quite ready to make changes to family traditions for the gluten-free diet (maybe you are newly gluten-free and aren’t sure it is for you, maybe your family is still adjusting etc.) then take the time you need! Christmas will come around again next year, you can always make changes for future years. I had been diagnosed with Celiac Disease for four years before my Italian family made a complete transition to a gluten-free Christmas. We spent a few years trying to just add a gluten-free option but eventually decided to make the entire dinner gluten-free since so many of my family members are now gluten-free. You can read about the Bonaduce transition from classic Italian Ravioli to gluten-free “roliolis” (a hybrid lasagna ravioli dish) here.

There is no doubt that being gluten-free around the holidays can be a challenge but the most important piece of advice I can offer is to be graceful about being gluten-free. Take the Holidays in stride, be persistent and protect your health. Being an easy-going guest is not worth getting physically ill. By being open to talking about gluten-free options and your needs you can absolutely be gluten-free gracefully.

The national cupcake craze has not excluded those living gluten free. In fact, as far as a flour-based food fad goes, the cupcake industry has been pretty inclusive. Shows like Cupcake Wars have highlighted several gluten free bakers in the past few years. How many of you have grabbed a cupcake from Crave Bakeshop in Lake Oswego, Oregon? If you have, then you have probably met Ms. Kyra Bussanich, the proud winner of Cupcake Wars and promoter of gluten free awareness! For my neighbors in the DC Metro Region we can always stop by Sticky Fingers Bakery in Columbia Heights, another winner of cupcake wars, for a vegan gluten-free cupcake! The big kahuna cupcakeries are also jumping on the gluten free bandwagon. Bakeries like Sprinkles Cupcakes provide customers with a red velvet gluten free cupcake. You can tell it is gluten free because it is marked with a big red “G” on top!

From coast to coast you can find bakeries offering gluten free cupcakes but what about baking them yourself?? Cupcakes are a great home-made good to bring to a friend’s dinner party, they are simple to transport, easy to eat (don’t require utensils) and are sweetly delectable. Baking gluten free though, is no walk in the park…or is it?

The days of trying to find the perfect ratio of garbanzo bean flour:qiunoa flour:amaranth flour are over! You also don’t need to search to the ends of the cyber world for a “gluten free” recipe that is more interesting you’re your traditional vanilla or chocolate cupcakes. I’ll be real; you will have a hard time finding a gluten free recipe for the “raspberry cream cheese chocolate swirl cupcake” that your friend posted on Pinterest but with products like Glutino’s Gluten Free Pantry’s All Purpose GF Flour and King Arthur Flour’s Multi Purpose GF Flour the days of questing for specific gluten free recipes are over. Whenever you find a recipe that calls for 1 cup of all-purpose flour, you simply grab your box of all-purpose gluten free flour and get started! You can check out my review of gluten free all purpose flour here!

I recently made gluten free tiramisu cupcakes that completely exceeded my expectations! I am not a baker and always thought that baking gluten free and from scratch was simply off limits given my lack of experience. It turns out, anyone can be a gluten free baker if they want to be. Now, if you hate hearing things like “I can’t believe this is gluten free!!” then don’t make these cupcakes because I guarantee you that people who eat them will shout this while devouring your glorious gluten free goodies. The trick to baking, especially baking gluten free, is following the recipe exactly. Minor deviations can really mess with the texture and denseness of the cake.

For this recipe, and others like it, I suggest investing in 1-2 mini cupcake pans. They are great for desserts, snacks and are just a bit cuter than your average cupcake. The cupcake recipe is for a basic (and delicious) vanilla cupcake based on the recipe by Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. You can use this recipe for making a ton of different cupcake varieties. This post gives instructions for turning a simple vanilla cake into a tiramisu delight!

Step One: Bake Your Mini Cupcakes

Before you get started, make sure you have mixing bowls, an electric mixer or hand mixer, cupcake liners and the like! You do not need a Kitchen Aid Mixer in order to bake this recipe; however, it is my absolute favorite tool in the kitchen! It makes baking so much easier! If you have one stashed in a cupboard somewhere now is the time to use it!

Ingredients: 1 cup soy milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all purpose gluten-free flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a bowl and let sit for around 10 minutes (this allows the soy milk to curdle)

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix together using a fork

Put all wet ingredients into a mixer and mix on low for a few minutes

Add dry ingredients to the mixing bowl a little bit at a time until all ingredients are combined

Use electric mixer to whip the heavy cream. Set mixer on medium speed until you see stiff peaks form in the cream

Combine the powdered sugar and mascarpone in a separate bowl

Gently mix whipped cream and mascarpone mixture together until smooth

Put frosting into plastic baggie and save in fridge until cupcakes are ready

**If you would like a vegan frosting combine ¼ cup margarine ¼ cup vegan cream cheese and 3 cups of powdered sugar in an electric mixer (I add cinnamon and nutmeg for an extra kick).

You will want to use a Ziploc bag so that you can cut the tip off, forming a makeshift pipette tool for frosting the cupcakes!

Step Three: Assemble Your Cupcakes

If you want to give your cupcakes that irresistible coffee flavor that people associate with tiramisu then you need to brew yourself a cup of Joe! I use my Keurig to make a small cup of hazelnut coffee for my cupcakes, there is no need to brew a whole pot of coffee for this. Once your cupcakes are finished baking you will need to cut out a small cone-shaped chunk from the center of each cake. You will drizzle a few drops of coffee into each cupcake. Be careful not to saturate the cake with coffee. You don’t want the cake to be mushy in the center.

Once you have drizzled the coffee over the cakes it is time to get out your frosting. Cut the tip off of your Ziploc bag, forming a pipette and get to work! Once the cupcakes are frosted dust them with cocoa powder and/or cinnamon (I use both!).

Voila! You have now made interesting, delicious, gluten free cupcakes!

The next time you are invited to a dinner party and feel stressed about the dessert option just bring a batch of mini cupcakes! They are the perfect gift to a host because they are small enough that they don’t have to be the main or only dessert but substantial enough that you can feel included in the dessert course even if you can only have the cupcakes. Mini cupcakes are simply a great addition to any event or meal.

As the nation reviews the employment, or rather unemployment, data from December 2012, I too feel inclined to take a look at some numbers. CC Gluten Freed had a fantastic year when quantified in terms of hits and viewer traffic! Now, asking a blogger for the number of hits per year/day/whatever is similar to asking a woman her age: it is simply impolite. I will happily reveal some of my aggregate data and post CC Gluten Freed’s top hits of 2012! Just as NPR reviews the best podcasts, I will be reviewing my top posts of this year for you to share with friends or just enjoy for a second read through.

This post offers advice for taking mainstream cooking classes while being gluten free. The cooking classes advertised as “gluten free” are usually special courses offered sporadically at cooking schools, local markets and local stores. Gluten free people need to be able to cook for themselves since restaurants always pose a risk and bringing a dish to dinner parties is always a must. How are we supposed to become master cooks when the only classes we attend teach gluten free baking and/or are hyper-specific classes eg a specific type of cuisine.

Remember when Domino’s thought they were being gluten free? This post looks at the situation critically and examines both sides of the issue: was Domino’s position on gluten free pizza a valid one? Spoiler alert! I conclude that it was an absolutely abhorrent decision on Domino’s part.

In this post I applaud the NFCA for making sure that Domino’s did not falsely advertise their pizza. GREAT Kitchens was able to evaluate the kitchen practices that Domino’s intended to implement and concluded that their kitchen practices are not safe for Celiacs.

The third favorite of 2012 is “The Importance of Letters.” I am glad that this post ranked so high in terms of traffic because this was one of my founding pieces for CC Gluten Freed. The whole idea behind this blog is to spread awareness and teach my readers how to advocate for themselves and other people living with Celiac Disease. This post discusses the what, when, where, why and how of writing letters to restaurants about gluten free customer experiences.

I am also glad that this post had so many views because it is a great resource for people who are gluten free but are still feeling symptomatic. In some cases, people let bits of gluten slip into their diet from some unexpected sources! This post looks at five foods that a lot of gluten free people continue to eat even though they shouldn’t.

Coming in at #5 we have my recipe for cucumber mint quinoa! This recipe is absolutely delicious! It is a great dish to serve in the summer time because it is filling yet refreshing. I include little changes you can make to this recipe to keep things interesting. You can use this versatile recipe in so many contexts.

One tip: the Quinoa dish is perfect for bringing to a dinner party as a gift for the host. It is filling enough so that if there isn’t anything you can eat your plate will still be full (as well as your stomach) but the dish is light enough that it won’t steal the show from whatever main entree your dinner host is serving.

Many families celebrate Easter with a dinner party. I know in my family, the food served and attending guests are very much grounded in tradition. Many, if not most, Celiacs are not diagnosed as children and, consequently, their family dinners and traditions may be a gluten free obstacle that they will face this Spring. Families of Celiacs diagnosed at older ages may not be as familiar with the gluten free diet and how to accommodate their family member as a family that raised a Celiac child.

How do you work around such a challenge? There are various reasons why trying to tweak your family dinners to be GF may be more difficult than simply telling the appointed cook not to use flour to thicken the gravy.

Here are some scenarios that may apply to you and ways you can gracefully work around them:

You are very recently diagnosed:

If you were recently diagnosed then this may be your first Easter dinner, if not your first big family dinner, since becoming gluten free. Learning about all the complex components of the GF diet is overwhelming at the best of times, let alone during a hectic holiday filled with out of town relatives, family feuds and the like. How can you get your family on board with your new lifestyle?

Talk specifically to the host and/or the family cook. If you aren’t comfortable speaking to your entire family or if you simply don’t have time to explain the intricacies of the GF diet to your entire family, be smart about who you talk to! Around the holidays, time is of the essence. Figure out who is cooking and make a plan — find places where you can substitute GF ingredients and double check all the family recipes and ingredients that will be used.

You don’t know the host well/are a new guest:

Not everyone has the time to travel to wherever their families may live. Maybe you have recently moved to a new city and don’t know many people. In these two situations you may be going to an Easter dinner at a new friend’s or a friend of a friend’s house. What if you aren’t able to get in touch with the host before the dinner party?

If this is the case, bring an entree or a substantial side dish to the party with you! It is completely normal and, often, encouraged to bring a gift or contribution for the host of the dinner party. Give this gift a dual purpose: a gift for the host, demonstrating incredible etiquette and something filling you can eat, demonstrating incredible preparedness.

What to bring:

There are many simple GF dishes you can bring the an Easter dinner that are filling and delicious. Try making a quinoa dish, which will be an acceptable side dish for some and, if need be, a main entree for yourself. I suggest this springtime recipe for a quinoa dish!

Another easy and filling option is roasted vegetables. This is very easy to make and is both a homey dish and a very nutritious one! I suggest picking up fingerling potatoes, carrots and fresh beets. Chop all the vegetables into similar sized bites and season with olive oil, garlic power, onion powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Spread the veggies out on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven, set at 400 degrees, for ~30-40 minutes or until tender. The beets and carrots add a sweetness to the potatoes that will surely impress the host of the dinner party.

If not these dishes, I highly recommend brining either a starch (rice, quinoa, potatoes etc) or a meat/poultry dish (a whole, stuffed chicken or a small honey baked ham). You want to bring something that is substantial enough to serve as your meal so that you are not a lone starving guest.

Other Useful Resources:

This year there are a ton of great GF resources on the web specifically for having a GF Easter. Gluten Freeville posted a 2012 GF Ham list! I highly suggest using this resource before purchasing a ham for a dinner party. Last Easter, I bought a ham that was labeled GF but the glaze on the ham was NOT gluten free! This was a tricky labeling problem that I overlooked and greatly regretted it! Make sure you find a ham that is safe, I even suggest calling the company to double check the GF status of their product.

Enjoy some Peeps!

I love enjoying classic food items that are naturally gluten free. It makes me feel like I have a super normal and easy diet! Peeps are an Easter classic. Though completely devoid of nutritional value, Peeps are a fun, sugary and gluten free dessert you can munch on with your friends. To top it off, unlike many GF substitutes, they are incredibly cheap! Bring a large pack of peeps to the Easter dinner party you attend as a dessert. Even if the host is serving a seemingly delicious glutinous cake, I would bet my blog that the majority of guests won’t be able to pass up the nostalgic, sugary goodness that is Peeps.

Good luck with all of the dinner parties! I hope that these strategies are useful and make the holidays a bit less stressful for everyone!

I have a hard time trusting non-gluten free restaurants, specifically pizza and sandwich places, that try and serve gluten free foods. The risk of cross-contamination is so great that the uncertainty drives me nuts. Not only is there an excessive amount of gluten ingredients floating around but also, I can’t watch the kitchen staff handle my order. Honestly, it feels like a sick form of gambling, a Celiac version of Russian roulette, if you will.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the effort that restaurants are making to provide food to GF customers, but I feel that they are targeting the gluten intolerant as opposed to Celiacs, which can be confusing and dangerous for consumers.

Despite my hesitations, I recently dined at a sandwich shop that offered gluten free bread. Luckily, the sandwiches at this establishment are assembled within view of the customers so I had the opportunity to watch how they handled making a gluten free sandwich amongst a sea of gluten sandwiches!

As a UC Berkeley Bear, it is much to my dismay that my fabulous experience at the sandwich shop happened at Stanford University’s CoHo Cafe. Here is what I observed:

First, when I ordered the sandwich, I told the cashier that my reaction to gluten is severe and that my sandwich “could not come into contact with any utensils or products that have been touching wheat.” Similarly to how I sometimes describe a Celiac as being “functionally allergic to gluten,” I did not use the phrase “cross-contamination” so as to avoid confusion over jargon.

You should always remind waitstaff and/or chefs at restaurants offering GF products about cross-contamination. Some places start offering GF products before they do the necessary research about safe kitchen practices.

After placing my order I watched as the person constructing the sandwiches read my order. She promptly removed her gloves and took a few knives and a cutting board to a sink to wash them with soap and water. Next, she put on a new pair of gloves and grabbed a package of Udi’s bread from a cabinet. Interestingly, these were the largest slices of Udi’s bread I have ever seen, they must have been special ordered.

The woman toasted the bread in a designated panini press. While they were toasting, she went into a back room and brought out a small assortment of condiments that had never been used on wheat products. She assembled the sandwich on the clean cutting board and cut it in half with the newly washed knife.

It was so great to watch such efficient and proper protocol! I think Subway could learn a lot from this tiny sandwich shop! Check out this youtube video of a gluten free customer at Subway checking for cross-contamination. I also think that college campuses should try to catch up with Stanford’s quality service (I am cringing while typing this). I had a meal plan at UC Berkeley for a year and the sandwich station in the dining hall was 100% off limits for me. Not only was there an unreliable supply of gluten free bread but the staff was simply unaware about cross-contamination and how to avoid it. You know someone has fantastic service when a Bear is willing to compliment the actions of anyone or anything even remotely related to Stanford, let alone a Cafe on their campus.

My sandwich was delicious. Since my diagnosis with Celiac Disease, I have been craving a deli-made sandwich. I don’t know why, but there is something special about a sandwich made by a deli…for some reason my sandwiches at home simply aren’t the same.

It is important that restaurants offering GF meals are aware about cross contamination! Next time you dine out, try talking to your server or the chef about how the food is prepared. California Pizza Kitchen had trouble with cross contamination when they tried to offer a GF pizza crust. How did they figure out there was a problem? A pro-active Celiac spoke up. Now, CPK is working with GIG to develop safe kitchen protocol for their GF products.Cross-contamination is a serious issue. You do not have to be an expert, you simply need to advocate for yourself, in order to help a restaurant improve their GF service.

Cooking at home makes being gluten free so much easier. Dining at restaurants is stressful, uncomfortable, not to mention, kind of dangerous! Don’t get me wrong, I love going out to eat, but I have to admit that it is oftentimes a somewhat draining experience. Having the option of dining in provides a nice sense of security. There is only one problem….you don’t know how to cook.

Being diagnosed with Celiacs or gluten intolerance requires that you change many, many aspects of your life. I know for me, learning how to cook was a necessity. My culinary knowledge was limited to spaghetti and Mac N’ Cheese before I was diagnosed with Celiacs. Without those two dishes, my culinary chops were null.

Knowing how to cook has many benefits for someone who cannot eat gluten. For one thing, you can host dinner parties (instead of trying to find a safe restaurant to go out with your friends or family). Stressed about attending someone else’s dinner party? Afraid there won’t be anything you can eat? Well, fear not, because if you know how to cook, you can bring a side dish to share at the party. In addition to these social benefits, knwoing how to prepare GF dishes at home will help you minimize the costs of the gluten free diet. Let’s be honest, substitution foods, both at grocery stores and offered at restaurants, are really expensive. A package of my favorite gluten free spaghetti costs around $6 while a typical pack of gluten spaghetti (I won’t call it “normal spaghetti”) costs only ~$1.20. Developing skills in the kitchen will expand your food options, allowing you to use less expensive, naturally gluten free foods! For example, learning how to cook with quinoa or make delicious rice dishes are ways to cut down on costs.

So, I think every Celiac should have the skills to cook GF at home…now the question is, where do we get those skills?

You can find a few gluten free specialty cooking classes in big cities but they are few and far between. Most gluten free cooking classes that I have heard about only teach you how to make substitution foods (GF bread, cookies, cakes etc.) but never cover the basics of cooking. How does a Celiac learn the ABC’s of cooking? Are there any cooking classes out there that are naturally gluten free? Honestly, probably not. Chefs love flour. The French, the Italians, the English…everyone loves flour! The use of flour is prominent in all types of cooking, not simply baking. Dredging meats in flour before pan-searing is very common. Developing a roux for a sauce or soup, creating a batter or breading for a dish is also a popular culinary trick.

Here is what I did: I found a local cooking series in Berkeley at a place called Kitchen On Fire. The class is a 12 week course that covers the fundamentals of cooking. Although the class was not gluten free there were some steps that I took that helped make the class enjoyable, educational and safe. For one thing, I did not attend the baking classes. Being in a room full of dry flour is very dangerous for a Celiac. Check out this post about air-borne flour. Other than the two baking classes, I was able to attend and participate in every other class. The class was comprised of a short lecture followed by cooking. We were set up at cooking stations that fit 4 people. I took the class with a friend which made insisting on a gluten free cooking station much easier. We would tell the other people at our stations that we did not eat gluten and that we could not share ingredients, knives, or cooking supplies with them and also let them know we couldn’t taste their creations. The people at our table knew not to dip tasting spoons into our dishes. Everything went fairly smoothly. On days where we worked with batters, dredging or frying, I used GF flour and worked at a table away from my classmates.

The class was a great learning experience. I was grateful for the opportunity to learn to cook and found the class mostly enjoyable. Of course, it was stressful at times. I had to exercise constant vigilance, keeping a close eye on what I was cooking while simultaneously keeping an eye on what everyone else was doing. Did someone throw bread onto the shared grilled? Did anyone use the shared fryer yet with breaded foods? Taking a class not meant to be gluten free was exhausting yet rewarding.

Here are some GF cooking classes that I have heard about, but have not taken:

Spork Foods: teaches mostly vegan cooking but specifies when a class will be gluten free

Sur La Table:offers GF cooking classes from time to time so keep an eye out for a class at your local Sur La Table.

Hipp Kitchen: Bay Area company that offers GF cooking classes in addition to nutrition advice and consultations.

Check in with local GF bakeries, GF restaurants or GF support groups to find out more information about available cooking classes in your area.